The present invention relates to web page communication with a server and, in particular, to reloading Java applets.
Web browsers are used to render HTML web pages. Java applets are programs written in the Java language that are loaded by the web page and executed. When a user browses a combination HTML/applet page, the Java runtime environment (JRE) is loaded, providing an environment for the applet to function in. When the user leaves the page, the applet is unloaded, but the JRE remains. The JRE maintains static/global variables.
A problem with common implementations of this operation is that in cases where the applet has opened a communications connection with a server, reloading the applet requires completely recreating this connection. While the applet code itself may be cached, saving some time in reloading, recreating the connection accounts for most of the time (e.g., 3 times as long in local connections and over 200 times as long (e.g., 5 seconds) in an Internet VPN connection). This delay can be very apparent and undesirable when, for example, a user is using a web page to monitor a server, such as a web-enabled test instrument. A typical user expectation would be for data from the server, such as measured electrical parameters, to appear with little apparent delay when the web page is reloaded.